1)
Pro: cheap, and maybe downhill bindings are a ton better than touring bindings for downhill stuff, I wouldn't know.
Con: not very flexible--I can't just flick a switch and change from downhill to uphill mode, as you can with touring bindings. You get cold when you get to the summit and switch mode. And thereafter, you're committed to downhill mode--you can't realistically change back to uphill more than once, it's too time-consuming and you get too cold.

2) Pro: cheapish, and I get to keep using downhill bindings for downhill, which may be a big advantage--I don't know.
Con: more flexible than (1), but after all, you still have to put the skins on every time you change mode. And might I get shin-bang?

3) Pro: this is, no doubt, the proper way to do it.
Con: very pricey, and might I get shin-bang? And are touring bindings any use for downhill, really?

Your thoughts please. Feel free to recommend me a set-up.

Oh, and by the way--if possible I'd like to support the Scottish economy directly by buying whatever kit I end up buying in a local(ish) shop. I'm prepared to pay something other than rock-bottom prices to help somewhere like the winter-sports shop in Braemar turn an honest penny... So, any recommendations for a good place to buy skis that isn't online?

Go for 3. 1 may be Ok for short hikes in shallow/firm snow. 2= misery.
Look on German ebay for touring rig.
Could you put touring bindings on your existing skis? Having said that second hand skis of suitable characteristics are probably the cheaper part of the whole set up.
I reckon most modern touring bindings are fine for piste unless you are flying off moguls etc.

Q to all: can I use my downhill boots with touring bindings? I can't see why I wouldn't be able to, but just checking. It's an important question, because I have odd-shaped feet and have in the past suffered total bloody murder from ill-fitting boots. So when I actually bought a pair I went to a lot of expense and trouble to ensure that my downhill boots are comfortable. And they are.

What most puts me off going for option 3 is the ski-mountaineering I did in Canada in 2003. I rented the kit for the 2 weekends I did this, and the pain of the blisters I got on the front of my shins from whacking them against the insides of my boots at every step (this is what Canadians call shin-bang) was unspeakable. I don't want to shell out hundreds of pounds for an experience of sheer bloody misery.

I appreciate no one can guarantee that won't happen again... But I'd really like to do some ski-mountaineering the proper way. My current way of doing it--walk up carrying the kit on my back, ski down--is OK but it's not that flexible. And if I was trying to walk up hillsides with north-American depths of snow on them, it wouldn't work at all. (The deepest snow I've walked up in was about 18 inches, on Sgoran Dubh Mor. This was laborious.)

Everyone's different but I've never noticed any 'shin-bang' either with the entry level Scarpa Avants I started with or the Maestrales I have now. In walking mode there is lots of fore-aft movement so it avoids that.

You can hire touring kit from Mountain Spirit in Aviemore and give it a go if you are worried. I think they hire out Maestrales or the version with a cheaper shell but the same design.

Deffintly try the hire buddy! Mountain spirit has some great gear on hire, and come to the end of the season they will sell allot of cheap gear. New or ex demo. They did great prices on a poc helmet and goggles at the end on a season a couple of years back. Great place. I would recomed anything other than a dedicated setup to tour. Oh and you can use touring bindings on piste. Freeride pros I have are great. Heavy though.

Securafix and ATs are made for somone who wants to do what you want to do. They are not for long tours, they just give you the ability to skin uphill on your downhill set up. You just place them in your bindings and the place your boots in them and away you go. Then you take them out to ski down as normal. I'd have given you a pair for nothing if I hadn't thrown them away when we moved house a few weeks ago!

Strapped for cash me, so more up for selling than buying but sold all my surplus kit. Small matter of a big blow, a large tree and a little car turned out quite expensive but I do have a lot of fire wood now. I could pimp for you if you'd like.

Anyway, cut out all the in-between stages and buy some tech compatible touring boots, Dynafit bindings and skins and use them with your existing skis. Job done, change from a kidney or maybe just 5 nights work.